North American Airlines Arrival Performance

North American airlines, on average, delivered 81.68% of their flights to the arrival gate within 15 minutes of schedule in November, up 6.11 percentage points from October's 75.57%. Cancellations for the group in November were down sharply: 9,834 cancelled flights compared to 25,921 in October 2012. Airlines recovered from the disruptions caused by Hurricane Sandy. See recap for details about the Impact of Hurricane Sandy on North American air travel.

Delta led the majors in November. American Airlines performance continued to improve. They improved by 10.63 percentage points over October and 19.78 percentage points over their performance in September.

NB: FlightStats on-time performance calculations are based upon data collected from a variety of sources- both primary and secondary. Our coverage of any single airline's flights varies in percentage terms. In some cases, only secondary sources can be obtained that represent a subset of an airline's total flight operations. This is especially true for certain low-cost carriers, notably Easyjet.

Therefore, the calculations represented here should, in general, be considered indicative of an airline's performance but not a definitive measure. We continue to work hard to fill in our coverage gaps. However, reaching 100% coverage will require the cooperation of some airlines that, at present, are unwilling to participate.

Here are links to the latest detailed North American airline reports including a summary report for 2011 and previous years:

Though six North American airports were in the top ten, Tokyo's Haneda continues to outperform the rest of the world's busiest airports while posting a 93.77% on-time departure performance in November. Three European airports rounded out the top 10 in November. The average on-time departure performance among the top 30 airports in November was 75.75%, up from 73.66% in October 2012.

MEM Memphis International Airport took the top spot with a 89.83% on-time departure performance in November. They unseated SLC Salt Lake City International Airport from their three month reign at the top. The average on-time departure performance for the group in November was 84.12%, up 2.5 percentage points from October's 81.62%. Here is a summary of the on-time departure performance for the ten best performing large North American airports:

A mix of major and regional European airlines turned in strong performances in November including bmi, Germanwings, Aegean Airlines, Polish Airlines and Czech Airlines. For the third month in a row all of the airlines in the top ten delivered > 90% of their flights to the gate on time in November. The average OTP for the group was 86.36% in November, up from 83.66% in October.

NB: FlightStats on-time performance calculations are based upon data collected from a variety of sources- both primary and secondary. Our coverage of any single airline's flights varies in percentage terms. In some cases, only secondary sources can be obtained that represent a subset of an airline's total flight operations. This is especially true for certain low-cost carriers, notably Easyjet.

Therefore, the calculations represented here should, in general, be considered indicative of an airline's performance but not a definitive measure. We continue to work hard to fill in our coverage gaps. However, reaching 100% coverage will require the cooperation of some airlines that, at present, are unwilling to participate.

Download the detailed report on European carrier arrival performance including the 2011 year-end summary here:

Of the top ten Asian airline on time performers, seven delivered >90% of their flights to the gate on time in November. The average on-time performance rating among the 38 Asian airlines we analyzed in November was 75.48%, down 2.57 percentage points from October's 78.05%.

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About These Reports
These on-time performance reports for worldwide carriers and airports are generated from FlightStats Analytics. We track the performance of over 150,000 flights per day, archive the data for analysis and publication, and provide real time flight status to millions of travelers world wide each day.

In contrast to the US Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) on on-time performance which are filed with the BTS by the largest US airlines, we gather it ourselves in real time and archive the data for analysis and reporting. This enables us to cover a larger list of airlines and airports and to issue reports within a few days of the end of the reporting month.

BTS reports only on US airlines and airports. FlightStats gathers data world-wide

BTS airline performance reports are based upon data reported by 19 US airlines, 18 of which constitute 1% or more of total domestic scheduled-service passenger revenues. FlightStats reports cover 45 US airlines and are based upon data gather in real time from a variety of sources including the US FAA, airlines reservation systems, direct feeds from airlines and airports.

BTS US airport performance reports are based upon information provided by the 32 U.S. airports that account for at least 1 percent of the nation's total domestic scheduled-service passenger enplanements. FlightStats equivalent reports are based upon archived real-time data covering the top 40 (i.e. busiest) North American airports.

Both BTS and FlightStats reports include information on the percentage of flights that arrived on time, were cancelled, were diverted. FlightStats breaks down the delays into 3 categories - late (15-29 minutes late at the gate), very late (30-44 minutes), and excessive (> 44 minutes). BTS simply reports that a flight is late (15 minutes or more).

FlightStats has more current data based upon real-time reporting. BTS data is published approximately 5 weeks after the close of a month as it relies on the airlines to file historical reports.

BTS also reports on baggage issues, passenger numbers, customer complaints and the causes of flight delays. FlightStats does not.

The articles in this issue include links to reports you can download with detailed performance data on the world's 50 busiest airports, US major airline performance, North American airport performance and European carrier performance.

We also track departure performance and can provide many different views into the data. Let us know if you need something in particular.

You may republish any and all data included in this report. We ask only that you attribute the data to FlightStats.com and include a link to http://www.flightstats.com if you publish the data in any form online.

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